Herein is Love - A Study of the Biblical Doctrine of Love in Its Bearing on Personality, Parenthood, Teaching, and All Other Human Relationships.

Reuel L. Howe

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• Publié par: moving
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 24
• Langue: English

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Herein is Love, by Reuel L.

Howe

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Title: Herein is Love

A Study of the Biblical Doctrine of Love in Its Bearing on Personality,

Parenthood, Teaching, and All Other Human Relationships.

Author: Reuel L. Howe

Release Date: January 4, 2007 [eBook #20289]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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about this book

“God created man to live in relation with the world

of things, with himself, and with his fellow men, and to

live in these relationships in such a way that he will …

grow in his relationship with God,” writes Dr. Howe in

this

meaningful

book.

He

describes

the

true

significance of Christian fellowship and how it can

come about and exist. Living responsibly by giving

ourselves to one another—parent to child, child to

parent, pastor to congregation, congregation to one

another, church to the world—only in living out the

Word of God’s love in human relationships can we

experience the love of God.

Dr. Howe wrote this book at the request of the

Division of Christian Education and the Division of

Evangelism of the American Baptist Convention. It

grew out of a series of lectures he presented at a

national conference on Christian education at Green

Lake, Wis., on the subject, “Growth in the Christian

Fellowship.”

It is intended that this book be used in study

groups

such

as

parent

groups

or

parent-teacher

groups. Pastors and students of the church will gain

new insights from it. Moreover, any individual who is

truly interested in the Christian life will find that it is

addressed to him.

Cover Design by Alexander Limont

HEREIN IS LOVE

By the same author

MAN’S NEED AND GOD’S ACTION

THE CREATIVE YEARS

Chicago

Los Angeles

HEREIN IS LOVE

A STUDY OF THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF

LOVE IN ITS BEARING ON PERSONALITY,

PARENTHOOD, TEACHING, AND ALL

OTHER HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

by

Reuel L. Howe

THE JUDSON PRESS

Valley Forge

Copyright © 1961

by THE JUDSON PRESS

Sixth printing, April, 1963

All rights in this book are reserved. No part of the text may be

reproduced in any manner without permission in writing from

the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations included

in a review of the book in a magazine or newspaper.

Except where indicated otherwise, the Bible quotations in this

volume are in accordance with the Revised Standard Version

of the Bible, copyright 1946 and 1952, by the Division of

Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches

of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by

permission.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 61-11105.

Printed in the U.S.A.

To my children

Marjorie and Lanny

FOREWORD

This book was born out of a living encounter with the members of

the Christian Education Conference to which I lectured at the

American Baptist Assembly at Green Lake, Wis., in August of 1958.

As I stepped to the speaker’s rostrum to begin my first lecture to that

group, and my first to so large a group of Baptist lay people, I

wondered whether I as an Episcopalian and they as Baptists had

images of each other that would help or hinder our communication. I

shared with them my question and learned later they had been

asking themselves the same question. I explained that I had

prepared myself to speak to them in the hope that through me some

of the truth of God would be heard by them, and I explained also that

their lives were to be their preparation for hearing what I had to say;

that is, that I hoped they would work as hard to hear me as I would

work to make myself understood. They responded in good spirit, so

that the Spirit of God spoke through and to all of us.

I describe this occasion because it produced the experience and

context out of which the present book appeared.

Herein Is Love

is, I

believe, an outward and visible sign of the fellowship of the Holy

Spirit experienced on that occasion; and I offer it as a means of

opening to others the possibility of participating in this fellowship of

the Holy Spirit.

The theme of the book grows out of that experience: As the love

of God required incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth in order that it

might be received by us, so the Word of God’s love in our day calls

for persons in whom it may be embodied. The church, as the

embodiment of divine love in human relationships, has tremendous

responsibilities and opportunities in our modern culture. The old

and

familiar

biblical

symbols

and

stories

do

not

always

communicate their meanings to men today, and we must find a

language that does. The language of the lived life of both man and

God is the one that we shall use here in an attempt to open to us the

meaning of the life of man and of God.

Reuel L. Howe

January 10, 1961

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8

7

9

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26

43

61

82

99

CONTENTS

PAGE

FOREWORD

CONTENTS

I

SOME FRIGHTENED FRIENDS

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”—

1 John

4:18

II

GOD IN THE WORLD

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son….”—

John

3:16

III

HEREIN IS LOVE

“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who

loves is born of God and knows God.”—

1 John 4:7

IV

SOME OBJECTIVES OF LOVE

“Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in

truth.”—

1 John 3:18

V

THOSE WHO WOULD LOVE

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we

love the brethren.”—

1 John 3:14

VI

LOVE IN ACTION

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us: and we ought

to lay down our lives for the brethren.”—

1 John 3:16

9

I

SOME FRIGHTENED FRIENDS

“There is no fear in love,

but perfect love casts out fear.”—

1 John 4:18

“It seems to me that the church has lost its influence. Nobody pays

much attention to it any more, except some of its own members; and

they don’t seem to be interested in anything except their own

activities. The time was when the word of the minister carried

weight. Some may not have agreed, but when the church spoke

they paid attention. It’s not true now, though.”

Mr. Clarke eyed the others in the group as if he were testing their

reactions to the statements he had just made. The church had

always given him a sense of security, and now he was both worried

that it seemed to have lost its power, and resentful that people no

longer listened to its teaching.

He was one of a group of leaders of a local congregation who, at

the request of their minister, were meeting to re-examine the

purpose of the church. Not all of the group had arrived as yet, and

the minister of the congregation, Mr. Gates, had been detained in

his office by an emergency call upon his pastoral care.

Within the minute after Mr. Clarke finished, Mr. Wise spoke up.

He

was

a

thoughtful

and

compassionate

member

of

the

congregation who often raised the kind of questions that carried the

discussion to deeper levels. When his questions were ignored, as

they often were, he would smile good-naturedly and continue both

as a contributor and as a question raiser. Turning to Mr. Clarke, he

said: “I think I know how you feel. The statements of our ordained

spiritual leaders are important, but do you think we should equate

their words with—”

As usual, Mr. Wise’s comment was interrupted, and this time by

Mr. Churchill who, with evident irritation, protested against any

concern over what others thought about the church. He said: “The

church has got to be the church, and the world is different from it. I

don’t like this ‘return to religion’ business. Christianity and the

church aren’t supposed to be popular movements. If people want to

join the church, that’s fine; but if they don’t, that’s their lookout. Let’s

be the church and leave the world to itself.”

“But why was Christ born

into the world

—” began Mr. Wise.

“I

don’t

agree,”

exclaimed

Mrs.

Strait,

responding

to

Mr.

Churchill’s comment and not hearing Mr. Wise. “I think we should be

concerned about the world; concerned enough, at least, to set a

good example, so that people will know what they’re supposed to

live up to and to do. After all, Jesus told us how we should live, and

He did so in such simple words that even children can understand

them. All we have to do—and it’s written there for us to read—is to

keep the commandments, imitate Jesus, and live a good life for

ourselves and others.”

“Yes, but if it’s that simple, why don’t church people live better—”

“Not at all!

Not at all!

” pronounced the stately Mr. Knowles with

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1

12